My very good friend was who was teaching me Bonsai died unexpectedly recently and I had not yet gone through the late Autumn/Winter training with him. I live about 30 miles north of Philadelphia, PA.
I have received 7 out of 29 of his trees, mostly Acer Palmetums and all deciduous. He has 2 trees that really concern me for this winter.
One is a tree whereby he developed exposed roots that reach roughly 4 inches out of the ground and the tree itself is cascading down out of its pot. The exposed roots have good bark all around.
The other 'tree' is a grouping of 5 trees that are close to each other.
He told me that he always takes his trees from their pots around this time of year and plants them in the ground.
In the spring, when the buds begin to appear, he takes the trees and repots them. (I did some of this with him in March)
So,
1 - how far up do I cover the roots of the trees? -- just covering the roots and not too much of the base of the tree? Is there a general rule of thumb to the deepness of the plantings otherwise.
2 - How should I bury the roots of the cascading tree? -- do I make a higher mound, put the tree in there? How wide should this mound be?
3 - The group of 5 -- should this be planted as is into the soil? It would appear to me that 4 of the 5 are solidly grouped together, but that the 5th one is still trying to 'be accepted' by the others (best way I could describe it).
I have watched many hours of internet video and read your posts (thank you for being so thorough), but I did not see these items addressed. I have signed up for some classes, but they will not take place until December and I can't wait that long to put them into the ground.
Your help would be very much appreciated as I would like to honor him by continuing his work.